Chemistry course design?

[Miss Marple]

I'm trying to design a high school course using a college level textbook. This text (chemistry) is used for 2 semesters in college. How would I go about deciding *where* to divide the book for a one year high school course?

 

From past experience I find that high school chemistry texts vary quite a bit in content esp. when one factors in the texts written specifically for homeschoolers.

 

The text is: Chemistry: the Central Science. It was recommended by the author of the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments (Robert Thompson). I'm not necessarily wanting to do AP level work, either.

 

So...should I just line up a lot of high school texts and see which units are common? Is there a standard (other than AP) that I can use?

[In The Great White North]

I googled it and found several AP Chem courses with tons on info online.

 

http://www.dbooth.net/mhs/ap/

 

http://chem-is-try.us/class/ap/index.html

 

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:DxB3m1Nr05kJ:legacy.adams12.org/webpages/zjones/jachemsyl.pdf+AP+Chemistry+syllabus&cd=51&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

You could also google non-AP chem courses for comparison. Unfortunately, it would mean skipping parts of chapters, rather than whole chapters, to cut it down to non-AP.

 

If you don't want to do AP work, you could either take two or three times as long per chapter or get a different book. I'd recommend a different book. The reading level is harder than the regular high school texts. The student needs to be very comfortable changing units, using unit multipliers and solving for X, from algebra. Brown also assumes the students have retained some knowledge from their first chem class, so he uses concepts and techniques before they are covered in the book. Dd is a strong student but this has been a challenge for her.

 

We are using the Illustrated Guide for labs also, but not getting half as many done as I wanted to.

[Miss Marple]

Dd is a strong student but this has been a challenge for her.

 

Do you have another text you would recommend? Ds's reading level is quite high and he is totally fascinated with chemistry right now. He has spent time googling many aspects of chemistry (odxidation/reduction) and has learned quite a lot already. He has taken over several 'surfaces' in the house to do his own experiments. I was tempted to do AP, but I'm not sure I would have him take the exam (he tends to panic on exams). I did get a copy of Conceptual Chemistry to see how it looked, but wondered if it would be too light and not match up well with the lab book. Any ideas?

[Carol in Cal.]

I have not seen it, though.

 

I took high school AND AP chemistry in high school.

The difference wasn't so much that the material covered was different. It was more that it was covered in SO MUCH more detail and depth in the AP text. The reading level was FAR more difficult than the high school text. To read it you had to slow WAY down and stop and contemplate what it had said every paragraph, and then after plowing through the whole chapter that way, do it again to really learn the material.

 

I did well in the class and got a 4 on the AP exam and was able to go into honors freshman chemistry in my tough college, so it was well worth it. But it was VERY difficult.

[Miss Marple]

Ah...I think I'm getting a picture here. It seems from the links above as well as your experience that AP chemistry should be taken *after* a student has completed a regular high school chemistry course. If that's the case, then I definitely need to back off and take another look at the various texts. It sounds like I should look for a regular high school text first. I never had a real chemistry course in high school - all my chemistry came in college (well, I took consumer chemistry in high school - we made soap).

 

Conceptual Chemistry is very readable, but isn't as deep as I would like. I haven't been completely thrilled with any of the other chemistry texts we've used/owned although the Singapore O Level has been my favorite.

 

I'm totally open to text suggestions :bigear:

[In The Great White North]

Do you have another text you would recommend? Ds's reading level is quite high and he is totally fascinated with chemistry right now. He has spent time googling many aspects of chemistry (odxidation/reduction) and has learned quite a lot already. He has taken over several 'surfaces' in the house to do his own experiments. I was tempted to do AP, but I'm not sure I would have him take the exam (he tends to panic on exams). I did get a copy of Conceptual Chemistry to see how it looked, but wondered if it would be too light and not match up well with the lab book. Any ideas? __________________

 

If he's really into chemistry (ie. doing it for fun), I would go ahead and do the AP course. There's no requirement to take the AP test if you don't think he's ready. Dd is 15, in 9th grade, and this is her first "real" science course. I went with it because: a) I didn't find a high school text I liked, b) her older brother did Apologia and definitely didn't like it and c) I knew her other courses wouldn't be challenging and I wanted at least one that would.

[Carol in Cal.]

my high school had an AP chemistry class that didn't have high school chem as a prerequisite. It's not impossible to do it that way, but I can say for sure that I would have had a great deal of trouble with that.

 

High school chem gives you a good overview, and then AP gives you a lot of depth. The danger in doing pure AP with no high school chem beforehand would be not seeing the forest for the trees. I think that with appropriate planning that can be avoided. Maybe two parallel books--one giving the outline, and the other giving the depth--could be used together.

 

Unfortunately I don't know what is available for those right now.

[EKS]

We're using Conceptual Chemistry with the Teaching Company Chemistry lectures and a Labpaqs chemistry kit to approximate a high school level course in preparation for AP level later on. After we finish I'll decide if I will award a whole credit for chemistry or if I'll combine it with the conceptual physics we did last year as a physical science credit.

 

As someone who took chemistry beginning in college, I would say that the equivalent of a good 9th grade physical science course should provide an adequate base for college level chemistry.

[Ruth in Canada]

But--the kids did conceptual chemistry in grade 7. I think it depends on your kid. Chemistry: The Central Science is dense, and I was really glad that I had been through Conceptual Chemistry first (in addition to my own high school and university work). The other advantage of doing CC first is that it gives you the big picture--whereas I found the other book assumed some knowledge of subjects not covered until later in the book.

[Miss Marple]

Thanks, everyone, for the ideas!

 

Maybe I can have him begin reading through Conceptual Chemistry (since I already have it) and then follow up with Chemistry: The Central Science beginning in the fall.

 

This boy just can't wait for fall to come. He is so excited about chemistry. I, on the other hand, have lost many kitchen utensils, pans, baking ingredients, etc. to this boy! Strange odors come wafting out of the kitchen, pops and booms frequently occur outside (thank heavens!), and the combination of chemistry and Backyard Ballistics has produced some fantastic products (at least they are fantastic to a 15 year old boy).

[Carol in Cal.]

Thanks, everyone, for the ideas!

 

Maybe I can have him begin reading through Conceptual Chemistry (since I already have it) and then follow up with Chemistry: The Central Science beginning in the fall.

 

 

You might want to also get the Teaching Company chemistry series. It covers the math of chemistry with a lot of practice. It would be a good adjunct to the CC, I think, from what I have heard about CC (not as mathematical as other high school texts is what I have heard), and maybe a good bridge to the tougher text.